


somewhere where the captain won't be mad

by spock



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Established Relationship, Gen, Humor, Journeymen, M/M, Team Bonding, Trades, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-03-09 22:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3267194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spock/pseuds/spock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The viking mullet is a big hit at his first practice in a Ducks jersey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	somewhere where the captain won't be mad

**Author's Note:**

> for a prompt on the kink meme that said:
>
>> A gay player is out to his team. And then he gets traded (for reasons other than being gay, please). He comes into a new locker room and has to evaluate the climate - see if it's amiable to coming out again. 
>> 
>> Possible scenario 1: He doesn't come out. Then his old team comes to his city and he goes out to a gay club with a couple of other guys - and sees some of his current teammates. Then there's weird tension between him and his new teammates that he saw - guys thinking maybe one of the other guys was gay?

Mathieu's excited when his agent calls him up and tells him that he's been traded to the Ducks. It dims — a _little_ because he's still fucking excited to go to a team that's even better than the one he's currently on, something that doesn't happen all that often for guys like him — when Pat says that Mathieu should probably look into renting an apartment, rather than signing a lease, but he doesn't let that shit settle over his shoulders and weigh him down.

October hasn't even started yet. He's got more than enough time to show the Ducks' brass that his contract is worth an extension.

 

* * *

 

Artturi and he don't have enough time to decide what they're going to do, logistics-wise. Mathieu starts running around their place like a chicken with its head cut off the moment he hangs up his phone, trying to figure out what he needs to bring with him on the plane, what Artturi can ship to him later.

He's stuffing shit into his gear bag when his cell rings. He needed to be on a plane to California about a month before this trade had even happened, so he yells for Artturi to answer it for him so that he can keep packing.

Artturi's conversation doesn't last all that long; he spends the majority of it laughing, which is enough for Mathieu to guesstimate exactly who it is that's on the other side of the line. Artturi doesn't laugh all that often, has the stone-faced Finn routine nailed down so well that it took Mathieu two entire weeks to gather up the nerve to ask him out back when they first met, but for some reason Ovi can get him laughing so hard that tears'll be streaming down his cheeks. Mathieu would be jealous, but he kinda gets off on the serial killer vibes Artturi gives off, so it's not like he's all that inclined to make Artturi laugh anyway, and he figures it stems back to some some weird overseas bond between Ovi and Artturi that even the French bits of Mathieu's Canadianness can't penetrate.

"Santtu said that he's sorry you're leaving and that he'll give you a ride to the airport tonight if you want," Artturi relays back to him. "I told him that I'd have it covered, but he said to call if we needed him anyway."

Mathieu stares over his shoulder to look back at Artturi, who's standing in the doorway, gorgeous and lean, the hallway's light hitting him from behind just right, so that it looks like he's glowing. They've done the whole long distance thing before; two years ago, when Mathieu had to rush back home from Finland because the lockout was finally over, and Artturi had to stay behind for school, compounded by the fact that they'd only been dating for a couple months. Mathieu agreed with Artturi when they decided that it was too soon for them to do something as serious as a cross-Atlantic move to stay together — though, privately, Mathieu had been so completely in love with the idea, of Artturi coming back with him, of them having exactly what they had in Finland back in D.C.

It worked out, though, because by the end of the shortened season they were fed up with skype and facetime and Artturi's university had okayed a study exchange, so getting him to D.C. ended up being as seamless as they could've ever hoped.

After a year of living together, of helping Artturi review for his exams and reaping the benefits of the cooking course Artturi finally caved and took, Mathieu isn't all that excited to go back to skype and facetime dates, so he says, "Can't you just transfer?" and hopes that his accent hides the whiny lit to his voice.

"No, I cannot _just transfer_ ," Artturi mocks. He tosses Mathieu's phone on their bed and then jumps across the room to follow it, fucking up the half-assed organization system Mathieu had sorted his clothes into. "You've got six hours until your flight, stop stalling with stupid questions."

Mathieu falls onto his back and grabs at his heart, gently rolling himself off the side of the bed and onto the floor so that he can flop around down there as he lets out pained whimpers, like a kicked dog. Artturi crawls down after him and sprawls out along his side, but doesn't do more than that. Mathieu keeps up his wounded act, on principal, before he remembers that this isn't like all the other times that they've done this, that they're working with time constraints this time.

"You have to pack up your gear and have sex with me at least twice before we gotta go," Artturi stipulates, ticking both tasks off on his fingers. "If you get that done before nine, I'll braid your hair so that you can show up to practice and meet your new team with that viking mullet you like so much."

Mathieu is very much into all three of those things happening, so he kicks his ass into gear.

 

* * *

 

The viking mullet is a big hit at his first practice in a Ducks jersey.

All the guys seem to be nice in general, but his hair is a great ice breaker and has them being more candid than they are with the other new guys, even the ones that'd been there since camp. Mathieu hadn't even thought of that when Artturi offered to do it for him, but Mathieu realizes that was probably the main reason Artturi offered in the first place.

Getzlaf is no Ovi, but Mathieu doubts that anyone could come close to replacing the hole his old captain managed to dig for himself in Mathieu's life. He asks Mathieu how he managed to get the lines of his braids so straight, and Mathieu's first instinct is to tell him that there's no way in hell he did his hair like this, that he can't manage much more than a topknot, so they better enjoy this while it lasts — his boyfriend did his hair for him before he left, but then Mathieu remembers that none of these guys have any idea that he's gay.

It's sort of the perfect moment to tell them, but Mathieu hasn't known them for a full two hours yet, so he deflects instead, makes a joke of Getzy's chrome dome and asks what in the hell he needs hair tips for.

Everyone laughs, and Getzy looks like he wants to pop Mathieu in the mouth. Mathieu feels like one of the gang already, and tells himself that he made the right call in keeping quiet.

 

* * *

 

The first game of the season is crazy as shit: the Avs absolutely destroy them, Saint Patrick nearly breaks through a pane of glass to claw off Gabby's face, and Mathieu ends the night with a minus two, sure, but he wins eighty-one percent of his face-offs and his line clicked amazingly.

"I cannot _believe_ they've got you playing with Teemu," Artturi tells him later that night when they're skyping after the game, Artturi sounding as excited as he ever gets, which for the rest of the population is barely breaking monotone. "I've already accepted that I'm going to jack off to the thought of us in a threesome with him. I know I told you not to cheat on me, but if you get a chance with Teemu, just fucking go for it, Matti."

Mathieu laughs, says, "That isn't gonna happen for a million different reasons. He doesn't even know I'm gay! Why would he even offer?" Artturi's eyebrows raise but he doesn't seem all the shocked, and he motions for Mathieu to keep going, all without taking the majority of his focus off the math homework he's finishing up. "I had a chance that first day, but it didn't feel right. I'm trying to see how it'll go down in the room without, you know, actually saying anything?"

"Whatever you think is best," Artturi agrees, and that's that. "Now what the fuck happened to your _hair_?"

Mathieu groans, embarrassed. It's so stupid. "I've taken like twenty showers since I landed and the braids got all ratty, and I didn't want to take them out because they reminded me of you, right? And I maybe talked some shit about Getzy being bald. I should've known he was up to some shit when he didn't beat my ass right away. He forced me to get it cut after morning skate. Asshole."

Artturi doesn't say anything for a while, the tinny sound of his pencil scratching against his notebook as he writes the only thing coming through the speakers of Mathieu's laptop. Finally he stops and looks at the camera, his eyes meeting Mathieu's. "You know I'm going to have to tell Santtu everything you just said the next time we hang out with him, right? You won't live this down."

Mathieu knows. He wishes he didn't, but he does.

 

* * *

 

Mathieu nets the game winner a few days later against Minnesota and that sets the tone for their next month worth of games. They win more than they lose, and Mathieu's line is on fire.

He's glad that they started the season on a road trip, since it gives him a chance to get to know the guys better, and he's slightly dreading going back to his hotel in Anaheim. Artturi's already found a couple fully-furnished places for Mathieu to check out once he's back in town, but Mathieu isn't feeling it all that much. He wants to go home to place that's been furnished by the both of them, to a place that actually _has_ Artturi in it. At least while he's on the road he can pretend that his time away from Artturi is finite, like it'd been when Mathieu was still on the Caps. So Mathieu hangs out with his team, hits up the bars with them to celebrate their wins and shake off their losses, but he's always careful not to stay out _too_ late so that he's always able to swing a decent chatting session with his boyfriend before they both have to conk out for the night.

The last lockout was a major pain in the ass, but it gave him Artturi and the contractual right to his own hotel room — the privacy of his own hotel room. All in all, Mathieu's happier than most that it happened.

 

* * *

 

The last game they play before Christmas Break is in Washington. Mathieu's taking it as a sign that even Jesus himself wants Mathieu to get laid.

It's not Mathieu's best game, but the Ducks win and Mathieu doesn't register any points, so he's officially won the ' _First Game Against Your Old Team in Your Old Barn_ ' lottery by somehow managing a guilt-free victory.

He showers and gets dressed like there's a fire on his ass, makes his rounds through the Caps' locker room and checks in with all the guys he still texts regularly, which is basically amounts to him saying something to the entire team.

Ovi produces Artturi seemingly out of thin air and the room breaks into chants of _kiss,_ _kiss_ , _kiss_ , something that Mathieu has absolutely no problem being pressured into.

Having Mathieu gone must have made them forget how utterly shameless Artturi is, because it isn't long before they're groaning and pretending to gag at how long the kiss _is_ , at how Artturi's feeling him up through the seat of his suit pants.

"Is this how babies are made?" Willy asks, crowding up close to their faces, as if having him breathing down their neck would be enough to make Mathieu stop kissing his man. Mathieu ropes an arm around Willy's neck and brings him into his side so that he can plant a few kisses on Willy too, just to remind him that Mathieu had been the original pest on their team, and he's still the best one at it, even if he's moved on to more Pacific pastures.

 

* * *

 

As a kid, Mathieu used to dream of representing his country at the Olympics, but actually playing in the league has him happy to be a C-list player, because adult-Mathieu is just glad for the fucking break. He almost wishes that this shit happened every year; Mathieu wonders if he could lobby for the World Cup to be brought back at the next PA meeting.

He spends the first part of the break back in D.C. with Artturi, where he's so touch starved that he can't even bare to sleep in. He wakes up early and goes to class with Artturi, bored out of his mind and eye's glued half-shut, just so they can maximize all their time together.

The second half they spend in Anaheim. Artturi humors Mathieu's kinks and they fuck all over his tiny rented apartment, giving Mathieu a few good memories for when Artturi has to leave and Mathieu's all alone again. In between rounds of sext, Artturi takes him shopping. They pick up things that'll make Mathieu's place feel more permanent — more _theirs_ ; they stock up on plates, sheets, toothbrush holders, cups, and a million other things at IKEA and a couple kitschy local places, anything to help turn Mathieu's place into a proper home.

 

* * *

 

Their second and last game matchup against the Caps happens in Anaheim, with the Caps winning. Both Mathieu and Ovi manage to score this time, and it has Ovi's in a generous enough mood that insists on the team celebrating at a gay club, guaranteeing that Mathieu's attendance not be optional.

Mathieu's a little ashamed that he has to use Yelp to figure out what good places are in the area, but his life is boring. His new team seems to've accepted that he's one of the young married guys even though he never talks about dating. They probably think that he's some freak who made a promise to god to protect his chastity, and Mathieu hasn't done anything to change that opinion of himself. It's better that than them thinking he's recovering from some sort of addiction and can't handle being around partiers without fear of relapse.

The place they wind up at is nice, has good music and is just dark enough and in the right part of town that they probably won't run into any gay fans that might've been at the game and can ID them.

Willy and Joel get swarmed the moment they walk through the door, something that's happened literally every fucking time he's gone out to a gay bar with them. Mathieu used to be jealous about it, before he got Artturi, but afterwards he was just pissed, because those two fuckers have guys climbing all over themselves to buy them drinks while Mathieu's stuck covering his own tab.

Willy's grown into himself since the last time they've done this, and Mathieu watches as he flexes and lets the guys plying him with drinks feel him up a little bit at the bar before coming back to their table in the corner, skipping out once it looks like things might heat up.

Kuznetsov's new and shy around him, but he doesn't seem uncomfortable with anything he's seen thus far. Ovi catches Mathieu checking him out, says, "Zhenya not know many gay people when he comes to America, and all my friends mean to me, except for Artya. So I have him and Artya spend weekend together and now he is expert in gay people."

Kuznetsov nods and says, "Artya have best face. You very lucky." Then he nods his head in the general direction of the door and points his finger at something in the crowd. "Your team here, Motja."

Mathieu spins around in his seat and prays to god that there was a translation error there, that Kuznetsov meant that he saw a fan wearing a Ducks jersey or something, but he has no such luck. Bones, Frankie, Banter, and Patty are all at the bar, and Mathieu's stupid ass gawking means that Pat manages to spot him, even in the low lighting. He shouts something to the rest of the guys and points Mathieu's way. Just like that, the four of them make their way back to Mathieu's booth.

"You guys gotta give us the cheat codes on how to get this guy to come out with us," Frankie says around his smile, cupping the hand that isn't holding his drink around Mathieu's skull. "What are you guys doing here? This one," Frank gestures his drink at Kuznetsov, tone friendly and judgement free, "gay or something?"

Kuznestov looks at him like he's an idiot and says, "Motja is gay." He makes sure to point at Mathieu to hammer the point home.

Mathieu vows to board that little shit the next change he gets.

"Holy shit, you too?" Pat asks. He'd been focusing on the crowd, but now he's visibly a million times more interested in their conversation. "I'm bi, but I mostly only date dudes, dude! How come you never said? We coulda been clubbin' all season!"

"Uh," Mathieu says, sounding like an idiot even to his own ears, before he lets himself slip down in his seat a little, hoping to disappear under the table.

 

* * *

 

News of Mathieu's gayness spreads through the team like wildfire, because shit like this never stays quiet and Frankie has a huge fucking mouth, besides.

"You could have said something," Getzy chastises, like Mathieu playing it safe says more about Getzy as a captain than it does Mathieu just being fucking smart. "This is California. Even the Kings are good to their gay guys. _The Kings_ , Puppy. You've basically just said that shit Brown runs his team better than me."

"You guys aren't even Californian!" Mathieu complains. When he'd first entered the locker room, most of the guys made it a point to come up to him and give their support to him and his alleged Finnish boyfriend — Mathieu actually had to show them pictures on his phone just to get them to drop the _alleged_ , because Pat was convinced Mathieu made him up — for about all of five minutes before they moved on to bitching that he kept it a secret.

"Exactly," Corey sniffs, throwing his used towel at Mathieu's head. "That's what makes it even worse. Who loves gay people more than Canadians?"

"Swedes," Jakob answers, and that sets off a whole new set of arguments that thankfully require no direct comment from Mathieu.

 

* * *

 

Mathieu's kinda crestfallen when they get knocked out in the second round, but at the end of the day he's more upset that the Ducks chose not to resign him, even though they were upfront with him from the beginning about that and he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up like he did in the first place.

Free agency comes and Mathieu manages to swing nine million and three years out of the Jets. He calls Artturi right after he agrees to the terms of his contract and lets him know that the deal's done. A few teams courted him after the Ducks pulled themselves out of Mathieu's basket, but Winnipeg had the best and easiest school for Artturi to transfer into, so that had settled that.

They spend the months leading up to June in California, enjoying the west coast summer before they have to hop on a flight and spend some time with Artturi's family in Finland. Mathieu puts off hardcore training for as long as he can, but it's not all that long before they're on a flight to Canada so that Mathieu can get his preseason started for real.

He gets a text a couple weeks before camp is due to start, and it's the last thing Mathieu expected to see. _Called up Ladd and told him to be good to you_ , Getzy's sent him. _Didn't out you or anything but it looks like they've had gay guys on the team before and it was fine. Make sure you don't take a whole season to come out to them!_

It makes Mathieu smile, and he decides that maybe Getzy has a shot at contending with Ovi for the _best captain_ spot in his heart after all.

**Author's Note:**

> very quickly and lazily beta'd by yours truly so point out any typos and win a prize — or something. i meant to clean and repost this when mathieu's beast mode of a season first really kicked off late last year, but then he got injured and i put it off. now he's back, so here it is, in all of it's dumb glory. i'm going to backdate it in a few days for ocd reasons.
> 
> as your reward for reading, here are [two](https://kristobaldude.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/braided_manhair_01.jpg) [options](http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2013/02/Vikings_Gallery_Ragnar_Rollo_Floki-P.jpeg) for the viking mullet. imagine whichever one suits your tastes the most.


End file.
